DCSS responds to new student achievement measurement

Education leaders in Dougherty County are on board with the state's new way to measure student achievement.

The state has been working for more than two years to come up with a better way to measure school accountability and let the public know how schools are performing.

The College Career Readiness Performance Index replaces adequate yearly progress, which only looked at two indicators, a single test and either student attendance or the graduation rate.

"Many things come into play, not just academic achievement on tests. But academic progress from year to year, by class, by student. And part of the whole goal of these accountability measures is giving teachers data they can use to improve their instruction," said R.D. Harter with the Dougherty County School System.

Performance is now measured by 19 indicators at the high school level and 14 for elementary and middle schools.

In the next few months, state officials will release data for 2012 using this new method.